I hadn't planned on starting the year with one of these more personal posts on life as a blogger. I could easily jump into house decor - I have SO many ideas flying around my head! - but sometimes pouring my heart out on these pages is good for the soul.

In 2017, what makes a blogger? It's a question I've been struggling with the last few years as millennials take over the world, or at least the blogosphere. Frankly, my mid-40's self doesn't quite fit the mould. I don't have the same motivations. I don't have a growth plan for my Instagram. I don't have a snazzy Wordpress site. I don't even collect your email addresses and send out newsletters for you to ignore. I really don't do many of the things professionals say you "need" to do to be a successful blogger.

And yet, I'm still here. Almost 10 years on, I'm still blogging.


But here's the thing... while some of you left, no doubt turned off by my lack of consistency and seeing the same old decor and rooms, many of you stayed. I can only guess that you stayed because there were parts of my story that still interested you. And that's a message I'm holding onto.

In a blogging world where comparison is a sport and where we're pushed to constantly up our game, I'm taking myself out of the game. No, I'm not stopping blogging. But I am looking at things with a fresh perspective. I'm not here to draw you in with click-bait titles and I don't write to boost my SEO. I don't post pictures of my new home to induce envy. I won't shift my content to topics with more affiliate revenue potential. There are many ways to "be". Maybe evolving as a blogger doesn't mean looking at others and doing what's new and trendy and treating your blog as a job. Maybe it means doubling-down, clearing out the noise, and sticking to your own story.

I want this blog to be more about that... about how crazy excited I am to transform our rooms, one by one. But equally how I'm eager to take the transformation slowly because I'm pretty sure this is our forever home and I have no desire to rush through the experience. And because that's just our style. I can't wait to tell you about the new business I'm starting with an amazingly talented partner and how we intend to transform the industry - and live lives fueled by passion. I want to share more of the little details - the everyday, the ordinary, the parenting fails and triumphs, and celebrate the unexpected moments of hygge.

As our lives get filled with digital clutter, where we spend our time becomes increasingly important. Maybe it's because I'm here on the other side of 40 and there's this thing that happens at this point in life where you start to see the end of the tunnel rather than the rise of the mountain... but you realize that time is important. I can't help but feel we're all on a road to minimalism, to being more choosy and selective about the words and ideas we absorb. We can't sustain this constant bombardment of information.

So if you continue to read here, I hope you take something away and feel your time was well spent. It could be a decorating idea or an answer to a renovation question. It could be reading about new-to-you products and resources that help bring your design visions to life. Or it could be the pleasure of being witness to sweet moments of someone else's life. Blogging isn't a race. I think we bloggers tend to forget that. For me, it's always been about the interaction, the community, the emotional connection. So this year, I'm focusing on that. I'm just here to share a story, the next chapter of which is about to unfold.

2017, I'm ready to blog all about you, the only way I know how.

P.S. A post with no pictures. I'm ready to break all those blogging rules.